This text is the record of a debate that took place in the early tenth century between the famous missionary Abu Hatim al-Razi (d. ca. 933) and the even more celebrated Abu Bakr al-Razi (d. 925), the physician and philosopher known to medieval Europe as “Rhazes.” These two were towering figures of pre-modern Islamic thought, and this account of the debate between them brings us into immediate contact with some of the most intellectually exciting topics of medieval Islamic culture.

Abu Hatim marshals evidence for his position from the Qur’an, the hadith, and pre-Islamic Arabic poetry as well as from the Jewish and Christian scriptures. The freshness and vividness of the debate are preserved in the expert, first-ever English translation by Tarif Khalidi. Abu Hatim’s account holds excitement for modern readers interested not only in medieval Islamic thought, but Christian thought as well.